Ely Folk Festival
Venue: Multiple
Town: Ely
Date: 11th-13th July 2025
Website: https://elyfolkfestival.co.uk/
The thing about festivals, particularly the ones you go to regularly is that they very quickly start attracting rituals. Where do I stay, where do I have my last pre-festival meal, do I buy a commemorative tankard to buy the first festival pint in and if not do I buy, yet another, £2 recyclable plastic cup?
This was my first time at Ely, hands up I'm a Cambridge Folk Festival refugee and cards on the table would I be here if the 60th Cambridge Folk Festival had happened this year, honestly, probably not, it's a longish shleck to make from Dorset to East Anglia just couple of weekends apart.
Ely has come to me highly recommended and I would be a bit of an idiot to turn down the invite and so, along with Fatea team member Mal Thomas, it was time to head into the Fens to discover a new festival to me.
In it's 39th year, Ely is really three festivals interwoven into one great weekend, Friday to Sunday, over three mainstages with additional workshops and events thrown in. Essentially it's a music festival, dance festival, morris in varied forms plus ceilidhs and a beer festival, with both Jim Bar, 24 real ales plus ciders, wines and a great line in lowe to nos, with demand so great many had run out by the Sunday and The Gin Bar also with a great selection and almost no choice in having to do a Dirty Saint Clements at least once during the weekend.
Whilst most of the festival is contained on an easy to get to site, just on the edge of Ely, the Morris contingent do break out to do a loop of the town, starting and finishing at the Cathedral and taking in the high street and market square on the Saturday morning, forcing me into having to have a full English in the town.
The first thing you noticed when you get on site are two, large, sideless, star tents/marquees, awash with bench tables and with no other purpose than to provide shade, shelter and somewhere to sit. That alone shows that Ely has really thought about the needs of it's audience. They were also the place most likely to break out an unscheduled session.
Between the two big marquees was a floor, both for Morris and kids activities, with another dancefloor in the Kingfisher stage for ceilidhs during the course of the festival. At the opposite end of the site stood Peregrine, the mainstage, also with cover and Nightingale, the workshop, open mic, sessions stage between them. A compact site, yet with everything well enough positioned to prevent noise bleed, colour me impressed.
You'll have noticed that I haven't mentioned the music yet, well… I'm not from East Anglia so there were more new names here for me than there were for the locals. Ely draws a lot on local artists and distributes them across all three stages. They get mixed in with artists making that step up from regional to national and then headliners that you will probably catch at other festivals throughout the summer.
If you are so inclined it's possible to take in all of the artists that are playing a full set. That happens to be my preferred festival method, though will definitely watch larger chunks of some artists, Oysterband, probably the last time, Nick Lawrence and Fraser Morgan, have featured in the magazine and expressed desire to see live, Erin Brown & Barry Watson, Roswell Road, followed and seen the artists developing. Big kudos to Erin And Barry for also running the Fenland Young Folk Collective and to all the artists that took part in that. Great performance.
I must also mention the Americana evening in Kingfisher on the Saturday evening, thought a short stint of acts from a single genre worked well, provided something different without seeming like a token nod. Similarly having Blackbeard's Teaparty do both a ceilidh set and a band set really worked well.
The sound across the three stages was excellent, one long running hitch aside, a fantastic job of turning the stages around, big nod to the crew on Kingfisher particularly having to flip the venue into a ceilidh arena and back to concert again.
It was great to go to a festival for the first time and know so many people there, including a number of musicians that were there as punters, simply to enjoy a great, and sunny, weekend that was a rich in atmosphere as it was in dance and music.
If I didn't know anyone at the festival when I turned up, I would have done by the end, the two, sideless, marquees in the middle of the field were as much stars for me as the headline acts, sessions, showcases and workshops. They give the festival two great lungs to breath in life; to eat, drink and be merry, to talk to strangers and even to take a few minutes to yourself, to sit on the end of a bench, get some more sunscreen on and have a breather before getting back into the action.
Until this year, Ely never really had a chance to ping my radar, it does now and it's a huge signal.
Neil King - Words & Pics, additional pics Mal Thomas
Additional pictures from the festival can be found here
Ely Folk FestivalThe thing about festivals, particularly the ones you go to regularly is that they very quickly start attracting rituals. Where do I stay, where do I have my last pre-festival meal, do I buy a commemorative tankard to buy the first festival pint in and if not do I buy, yet another, £2 recyclable plastic cup?
This was my first time at Ely, hands up I'm a Cambridge Folk Festival refugee and cards on the table would I be here if the 60th Cambridge Folk Festival had happened this year, honestly, probably not, it's a longish shleck to make from Dorset to East Anglia just couple of weekends apart.
Ely has come to me highly recommended and I would be a bit of an idiot to turn down the invite and so, along with Fatea team member Mal Thomas, it was time to head into the Fens to discover a new festival to me.
In it's 39th year, Ely is really three festivals interwoven into one great weekend, Friday to Sunday, over three mainstages with additional workshops and events thrown in. Essentially it's a music festival, dance festival, morris in varied forms plus ceilidhs and a beer festival, with both Jim Bar, 24 real ales plus ciders, wines and a great line in lowe to nos, with demand so great many had run out by the Sunday and The Gin Bar also with a great selection and almost no choice in having to do a Dirty Saint Clements at least once during the weekend.
Whilst most of the festival is contained on an easy to get to site, just on the edge of Ely, the Morris contingent do break out to do a loop of the town, starting and finishing at the Cathedral and taking in the high street and market square on the Saturday morning, forcing me into having to have a full English in the town.
The first thing you noticed when you get on site are two, large, sideless, star tents/marquees, awash with bench tables and with no other purpose than to provide shade, shelter and somewhere to sit. That alone shows that Ely has really thought about the needs of it's audience. They were also the place most likely to break out an unscheduled session.
Between the two big marquees was a floor, both for Morris and kids activities, with another dancefloor in the Kingfisher stage for ceilidhs during the course of the festival. At the opposite end of the site stood Peregrine, the mainstage, also with cover and Nightingale, the workshop, open mic, sessions stage between them. A compact site, yet with everything well enough positioned to prevent noise bleed, colour me impressed.
You'll have noticed that I haven't mentioned the music yet, well… I'm not from East Anglia so there were more new names here for me than there were for the locals. Ely draws a lot on local artists and distributes them across all three stages. They get mixed in with artists making that step up from regional to national and then headliners that you will probably catch at other festivals throughout the summer.
If you are so inclined it's possible to take in all of the artists that are playing a full set. That happens to be my preferred festival method, though will definitely watch larger chunks of some artists, Oysterband, probably the last time, Nick Lawrence and Fraser Morgan, have featured in the magazine and expressed desire to see live, Erin Brown & Barry Watson, Roswell Road, followed and seen the artists developing. Big kudos to Erin And Barry for also running the Fenland Young Folk Collective and to all the artists that took part in that. Great performance.
I must also mention the Americana evening in Kingfisher on the Saturday evening, thought a short stint of acts from a single genre worked well, provided something different without seeming like a token nod. Similarly having Blackbeard's Teaparty do both a ceilidh set and a band set really worked well.
The sound across the three stages was excellent, one long running hitch aside, a fantastic job of turning the stages around, big nod to the crew on Kingfisher particularly having to flip the venue into a ceilidh arena and back to concert again.
It was great to go to a festival for the first time and know so many people there, including a number of musicians that were there as punters, simply to enjoy a great, and sunny, weekend that was a rich in atmosphere as it was in dance and music.
If I didn't know anyone at the festival when I turned up, I would have done by the end, the two, sideless, marquees in the middle of the field were as much stars for me as the headline acts, sessions, showcases and workshops. They give the festival two great lungs to breath in life; to eat, drink and be merry, to talk to strangers and even to take a few minutes to yourself, to sit on the end of a bench, get some more sunscreen on and have a breather before getting back into the action.
Until this year, Ely never really had a chance to ping my radar, it does now and it's a huge signal.
Neil King - Words & Pics, additional pics Mal Thomas
Additional pictures from the festival can be found here
Gig Reviews
There are only so many hours in a day and only so many gigs we can get to. We'd really like to expand our national coverage of the live scene as it remains the life blood of music.
Are you able to help us and the artist you're seeing out by dropping us a review once you get back home, and maybe even a picture. If you are able to help, Mail Us your review and we'll get it up as quick as we can
Roswell Road - Can't Take My Soul
Fatea Showcase Sessions
The Fatea Showcase Sessions are a series of downloads featuring acts that we've really enjoyed and think that more people should get the chance to hear.
Pirate is the current session and features 16 fantastic artists check out the website to find out more about them and download your copy
www.fatea-showcase-sessions.co.uk for all the artist information.